Beacon in the Storm

Posted on 10/11/2012 @ 5:55am by Captain Vir'ell Gould & Lt. Commander Josh Vincent & Captain Kheren & Captain Syntron
Edited on on 11/11/2012 @ 4:45pm

Mission: Azimuth Horizon: Crusade - Chapter 4: Operation Horizon
Location: Azimuth Horizon anomaly, Hromi sector

"Shields are holding and stable captain, the shield modifications are working within expected parameters" Sainthill watched the readings closely. "ETA to signal source 2 minuets 15 seconds"

Gould remained in his seat, suddenly vary aware that his new ship really needed a swivel chair for this sort of thing. "Anything yet Mr. Vincent?" He knew that there was a risk of finding nothing but the scattered remains of a star ship and its crew.. but someone was sending that signal, and that meant there was a chance that that someone was still alive. But they should have seen something as big as a star ship by now. In the back of his mind he played with the idea who's ship it might be. The distress beacon was to garbled for any kind of positive ID. Probability put it with either the Alsea or the Artemis.. if it was one of their ships at all. If he had to choose, it would be captain Kheren's ship the USS Artemis. Not because of its captain but the ship itself was old, even older the Lotus.

He had little doubt it's captain would brave the storm of the Horizon.. but he'd need a good reason for doing so..

"Captain. I'm picking up something on sensors," Josh stated. "There appear to be a few dozen operational trilithium emitters scattered here as well as some probe debris. The readings from the emitters match the configuration of the emitters for phase 2 of the operation. There is also something much larger near one of our probes within the anomaly; we may be able to see it if we bring up the probe's images on the viewscreen."

Gould turned to face the main viewscreen "On screen, magnify and enhance"

The tiny image slowly clicked and distorted closer and clearer and the image of what could have been a Federation star ship filled the screen, or at least what might be left of one.

The bridge went quite for a second before Tomah said "I think it's Ambassador class captain" To witch Gould said "The USS Artemis.."

Gould's commanding voice shook the bridge back to life. "Alright people find me some survivors or a reason not to go in and see if their still on that ship, and I want it now"

"Done captain" came an almost instant reply from Sainthill "The signal source is just at the perimeter of the storm, detecting several small vessels and escape pods."

A thought of explaining 'irony' to his science officer crossed his mine but he ignored it. "See if you can hail them, Helm plot an intercept course, best speed."

Moor plotted the course and engaged without waiting for the order, Sainthill tried to hail what appeared to be the largest vessel they could detect.

"This is the Federation ship USS Lotus, we are responding to your distress beacon.. are you receiving us?"

There was a long crackle of static before a rough, growling voice finally could be heard through the interference once the ever efficient science officer managed to filter it out with their improved transmission systems.

"About time! This is Arrow 1 from the starship Artemis, Lieutenant Graalthrii here. You don't come out very clearly, Lotus, if that is you... And we don't have you on sensors. If this is another blasted Romulan trick..."

Before answering Gould addressed Vincent "Check the immediate area for any indications of Romulan ships" Then to Sainthill "put me through"

"This is Captain Vir'ell Gould of the star ship Lotus, we should reach your position within the next minuet. Did you manage to complete your evacuation of the Artemis? is captain Kheren available?" The fact the he him self wasn't talking to them now was a bad sign.

While waiting for a reply he gave a nod to his first officer who nodded back and got up, walking over to the tactical station. "Vincent, have all available areas cleared and ready for incoming survivors and wounded. Clear the cargo bays if you have to and tell the crew they'll be sharing bunk space. The Artemis has three times our crew, its going to be a tight fit for certain" and hit the comm panel at his station."Bridge to sick bay, Doctor warm up every holo-emitter we have, their may well be Hundreds of wounded coming aboard vary shortly"

Doctor Bindo's voice came back after a few seconds to take in the news. "Understood Tomah, if possible try to separate any of their medical personal into areas designated for wounded, I sure I'll need them and trying to do it after everyone's aboard would be a nightmare"

Tomah agreed "A good idea Doctor, but I can't promise anything, bridge out" then with a tense look at Vincent he went back to his captain.

There was again some spurts and hisses coming from the speakers and a few garbled words before the comm signal became clear enough once more to make audible the rough voice of Lieutenant Graalthrii.

"Our... bold... captain stayed aboard with our... unfazable... first officer to try some crazy stunt to correct the mess we have done with those probes... And I guess our... stern... tactical chief is with them too, because it doesn't take long to headcount and kick overboard a skeleton crew like the one we set out with from base!"

Indeed, the three shuttles and twenty-five makeshift one-man escape pods on their sensors that drifted at the edge of the monstrous space anomaly would account for not even ten percent of the entire standard crew of a massive Ambassador class starship like the Artemis.

"Aye sir, teams will start clearing the necessary space immediately" Lt. Vincent replied to his captain's second order. "Also, I've scanned the area and I don't see any Romulan ships in the area, however there is a large amount of debris roughly fifty billion kilometers from the edge of the Horizon. Mass, composition, and dispersal of the debris suggests that the battle involved over half a dozen vessels, D'Deridex or Valdore Class. I'm also detecting several residual signatures from engines and weapons; there are both Federation and Romulan signatures there. One of the signatures is definitely from Prometheus class engines sir."

"What?" Gould said astonished "What the hell happened here?" Then looked back up to the screen. "Lt. Graalthrii, stand by for recovery and I want you and any officer relevant to this situation to beam over first and meet me. I need to know the situation and if there's anything that we can do for your captain."

"He, with the rest of the senior officers on the Aegis out there to answer the Alsea's distress call... that would be me, Captain Sir," grumbled Graalthrii through the bridge's speakers. "Ready to beam over."

"Mr. Sainthill.." Gould then said as he quickly moved over to the ops station. "We know there's at least 3 people left on the Artemis, find a way to get to them... and do it fast!"

"Sainthill gave his captain an almost pitying look "That will not be possible captain" That stopped Gould in his tracks but before he could challenge it Sainthill when on.

"I anticipated your request and have concluded that any such attempt would facilitate the Lotus's entrapment and likely destruction as well, and regardless of a successful retrieval of Captain Kheren and his remaining crew, the window of opportunity before successfully completing our primary objective, the Azimuth Horizon's containment, will have expired."

Gould looked around at the silhouette of the Artemis on the main screen. The face of the angered Andorian arguing with him back at the meeting loomed in his mind's eye.

"I'm sorry captain" Sainthill said calmly "But the Artemis, and every one left onboard.. are beyond our help"

**Several minuets later in the Lotus's main cargo bay**

Gould, Tomah, Vincent and Sainthill were waiting as the Lt. Graalthrii and his team joined them among the survivors.

"Greetings Lieutenant, we don't have a lot of time so tell me what you know of the situation in brief. then well discuss any options Sainthill and I might have over looked" this prompted a slight look of annoyance from Sainthill, but he said nothing.

The stout but heavily muscled black-bearded Tellarite that appeared before them looked immensely annoyed; but then again, Tellarites almost always looked that way. And the voice matched the looks.

"Never thought I'd be back on this flying spoon..." he grumbled between his thick teeth before looking up at the taller flagship captain, a gesture that also gave him an air of arrogant defiance. But then again, Tellarites often looked that way. This time however, the voice lacked anything but discipline and controlled anger.

"In short, Captain Gould; Captain Kheren shoved the entire crew, as small as it was already, out of what remained of the Artemis to pilot her himself in there and destroy the trilithium emitters we had barely deployed. Something about too many of them threatening to blow up everything in our faces or something... This hair-brained scheme must have succeeded because, according to our sensors, the anomaly has stabilized itself. But we heard nothing from him since, nor from First officer Syntron and tactical Chief Tyvya that stayed with him... and the Artemis never came out of there."

Having been a chief engineer for most of his career Gould had worked with many Tellarites over the years, Graalthrii's demeanor went unnoticed.

"Here's the situation then, the Artemis is trapped between two subspace fractures, making transporters and tractor beams impossible at anything other then point blank range. My Chief operation officer Sainthill tells me that there are good odds that the Lotus itself would be trapped in the attempt of rescuing the Artemis or it's crew" then held a hand up to Sainthill who continued.

"The Lotus is considerably better designed and outfitted to handle such an incursion and would, in time, quite probably free it self from the effect and a shuttle would not survive the effects of the Azimuth Horizon long enough to execute said retrieval. Time however is the factor and do to the time restrictions of our primary mission such an attempt must be denied. We could of course return after the mission is complete or send another ship capable of doing the retrieval, but the odds of anyone surviving aboard the Artemis are negligible"

"So there we have it.." Gould said sternly "What it boils down to is the Lotus just don't have the time, it's needed somewhere else" His expression didn't change. "Is there anyone here that thinks captain Kheren and his two remaining officers are more important that our primary mission? now would be a good time to speak up"

"As the saying goes: the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few," Lt. Vincent replied. "Our mission is absolutely critical to saving the quadrant, nay the entire galaxy, from destruction. That being said, if there is a way that we can rescue the remaining officers without putting any additional risk to completing our mission, then I would gladly volunteer to save our brothers on the Artemis."

The Tellarite security officer from the Artemis had been turning a deeper and deeper shade of red with every word spoken by the flagship officers; only the last words of Josh Vincent obviously kept him from exploding outright. Still, the rumble in his voice and the harshness of his tone sounded like torpedoes fired point blank at anyone within earshot.

"Captain Gould; I will take Arrow 1 myself and get them back. Don't tell me the odds," he shot then with a glance at Sainthill; "I don't care. And all Artemis shuttles were modified to work within the anomaly... and just proof tested; well... somewhat.... In any case, one officer and one shuttle less will not imperil your precious mission; but this one officer will not abandon his captain and fellow officers!"

The resolute mien of all the silent Artemis crew members massed a few meters behind him plainly showed that he was not alone in this conviction and intent.

Gould expected no less from the Tellarite and admired the determination of the Andorian captain's crew, none the less he had to make one thing clear.

"I would not allow such an operation to a attempted Mr. Graaithrii, as valiant as it may be there are NO odds of success, not just poor ones. Your captain ordered you off ship for a reason. Are you willing to disobey that order and lose more lives for sake of pride?" But he didn't give a chance to answer for fearing the well meaning Tellarite would go to far.

"No, your 'ship' is not capable and the Lotus is needed else where" Then more seriously "How do you think captain Kheren would respond to me allowing you to risk the lives of his remaining crew or the safety of the known universe in an attempt to 'save him' from something he went into willingly?" he let the words sink in for a second. "I would find my self on the receiving side of a death challenge in short order"

Graalthrii looked as if he would blow up like a photon grenade. But then, the words of the flagship captain sank in and he simply stood there, fuming and gnashing his teeth but with eyes lowered in forced acknowledgement.

Just then an ensign walked and Gould turned to him, ignoring the rest.

"Captain, she's ready sir, at your order sir." and handed him a data pad, He stood so straight and tall it must of hurt.

Gould looked it over quickly. "Sainthill.. do you agree with this evaluation, and in your official capacity as chief of operations neither the Lotus or the remaining crew of the Artemis can, within reason, perform a rescue attempt of the remaining crew of the Artemis?"

Sainthill remained placid "regretfully captain, I do agree."

"Vary well then, that leaves me no choice but to resort to unconventional means" He pulled out his phaser and pointed it at Lt. Commander Tomah, who took a step back and held his hands up defensibly. "Captain, what are you doing?!"

"First officer Tomah,Your under arrest for being an Undine spy and saboteur" there was no hint of levity on his face.

"Sir?!" Lt. Vincent asked in surprise as his hand rushed to his own phaser, a well-practiced reaction to hostile situations.

He didn't pull his phaser, but set himself so that he could draw and fire if the need arose.

"I was in sickbay when Mister Tomah underwent his physical," Josh continued. "Both he and I were cleared by the doctor."

Josh paused as he remembered that Petty Officer Olsen had gotten past the doctor.

"Although, the doctor has already missed one infiltrator today," he stated.

Graathrii and practically all the rest of the Artemis crew had reacted just as fast as the Lotus security chief, being more heavily trained than most standard crews of Starfleet to respond to dangerous situations. Only the few security personnel among them however were armed with Phasers class I and combat knives; the latter definitely not standard issue... except on the Artemis... So they all stood poised, ready and waiting to see what would happen next. This was not their ship and they had just arrived; they were also quite aware that they didn't know the whole story... and this was after all the ship's captain. More than that; this was the flagship's captain.

Or was he?

The more numerous science officers among them were unarmed but many had their own personal tricorder and, as other hands went to phasers and knives, they were already starting scans of the Lotus crew, first with their commanding officer and his accused first officer. Since the aborted hijacking attempt of the Horizon Children aboard the Artemis months ago, they had been especially trained and their instruments finely calibrated to identify life forms down to the subatomic level. Be it Changeling, Chameloid, Photonic life form or Undine, they would know.

But they were not linked to a ship's computer here, as they had routinely been on their own vessel. Complete, detailed and reliable scans would take time, analysis would have to be made manually, the correct conclusions drawn from correlated data...

A lot could, and indeed would happen, before they were done.

"That's right Vincent, and thanks to you we finally know how he's been doing it" his eyes never left Tomah. "You see, i knew Tomah was a Undine before I even came aboard"

Tomah made no threatening moves at all and seemed completely bewildered by the proclamation. "Sir, I'm thinking the stress of the situation.."

"It was captain Felez who figured you out Tomah, did you know they sent him in for the primary reason of finding infiltrators? the Efrozian ability to read body language is extremely refined"

For a few seconds more Tomah looked lost but then dropped the act. "Fine, congratulations captain. Ill offer no further resistance" and allowed Vincent to remove his phaser. "It is fortunate for you I also share you desire to stop the effects of the Horizon, or this might have gone a different direction" and even more weapons were turned upon him. He didn't seemed worried.

"Vincent, secure Tomah in a maximum detention sell with double guards, none that where on the duty shift, just in case. He was chief of security aboard ship for years, theres no telling what backdoors he might have prepared" and put away his weapon. "Report back to me as soon as he's secured"

"You may use our present security personnel if you wish, Sir," then proposed Graalthrii, keeping a baleful glare on the revealed Undine. "With all the maniacal screening and constant testing we went through and for so long on board the Artemis, rest assured there are no infiltrators of any kind among us!"

As Tomah was lead away Gould stopped them "Wait.. one question Tomah? why did you save me from petty officer Olsen? if she had killed me you might have gotten away with it, for a while at least"

Tomah just smiled "I beamed her out after the shot was fired captain" and left with the security detail.

Goulds eyes followed them a short way then turned his attention back to the matter at hand. "Sainthill.." and took a breath. "By your own admission all standard available options are inadequate, and as I'll need my chief of security for the away mission and my first officer is under arrest, I'm placing you in charge of the Lotus until my return and tasking you with both the rescue of the survivors and the containment of the Azimuth Horizon"

An unbidden look of panic and confusion passed over his face "Me? I mean yes sir.. but why would you need me. HOW are you planning to.." The look on his face was worth the wait.

"We'll be taking the captains launch, I've already had it prepped and its waiting, the mission may require a command override authority witch only Mr. Tomah or myself could perform, that means my presence is vital to the mission and as Mr. Vincent has already volunteered his services that leave's me with you to take command of the Lotus.. do you see any flaw in my Logic?"

Sainthill went silent for several seconds, the realization came to him that his captain had set him up. "No sir, I will do the best I can to act in your absence. I wish you success on your endeavor Captain" Gould held out the Vulcan symbol acknowledgement, and Sainthill returned it, then headed to the bridge.

He then looked down at Graathrii "I'm not entirely sure, but I think you volunteered as well? I will need someone with intimate knowledge of the Artemis, we may be required to navigate through damaged ares and I personally have never been aboard an Ambassador class starship" then turned and started walking away without waiting for an answer, it was vary rude. "So tag along or find someone more capable than yourself." and headed to the Aeroshuttle.

The smaller Tellarite followed in his footsteps, grinning widely.

As they approached the hatchway leading down to the launch a cheerful young officer awaited them. "Were all set captain, I even replicated a bottle of wine in case you wanted to christen her"

"Lieutenant Moor? you volunteered to be our pilot? are you experienced enough for field work?" Gould looked at the young man doubtfully.

"Sir, I'm the only one on ship to ever even pilot the 'Pirates Pride' this little lady doesn't get out much" he said patting the bulkhead door.

"Pirates Pride? I'm fairly sure that's not it's name.." then noticed the stenciled name over the hatchway did indeed say pirates pride.

Moor looked sheepish "I can explain that sir.."

"Later, welcome aboard Mr. Moor" and climbed down into the ship.

The inside of the Pirates Pride made excellent use of space, it was both cramped in size and easy to move around in. The bridge had four chairs, the front two for the pilot and navigator, the rear two for science and engineering. Gould paused at the engineering station then glanced back at the Tellarite.

"What are you actually good at Graathrii? take your station" Moor jumped into the pilots seat without any delay.

"I'm a security officer, Captain Gould," Graalthrii answered showing the golden collar of his black and grey uniform. " I have no cross-training; that's why I was not among those sent on the Aegis in support of the Alsea. But I know the Artemis like you know the inside of your nose and I can use sensors well enough. I'll find them so that we won't need to do any dungeoneering."

With that, the plump Tellarite propped himself up the science station chair, adjusted it from Human standards to his own shorter stature.

"If you give me the access code to this station of course," he finished with a pointy-toothed grin.

The security officers from the Artemis surrounded Mr. Tomah as he was lead to the holding cell and Lt. Vincent brought up the rear with his phaser trained on Tomah in case he changed his mind about cooperating. As the group moved down the corridor, Josh tapped his combadge.

"Ensign Kiels, meet me in the brig, and bring a new security team to relieve the current officers on duty," Josh ordered. "We've got another Undine to secure."

"Yes sir," came Nidiri's response. "Who is the infiltrator?"

"You'll see when you get to the brig Ensign. Get to it," Josh replied.

A few minutes later, Josh and his prisoner entered the brig to see Ensign Kiels and her security team guarding the brig's current residents. The first cell was occupied by a few crewmen who'd been arrested on the suspicion of being infiltrators; the second filled by the first Undine, which was beginning to awaken from its medical treatment. Nidiri's jaw dropped briefly as she saw that Mr. Tomah was the Undine. Mr. Tomah walked into the third cell and sat down without resisting. After Lt. Vincent turned on the force field to the cell, he turned to Ensign Kiels.

"Ensign, see me in the corridor," Lt. Vincent ordered as he stepped into the corridor, followed by Nidiri. "The rest of you secure the brig."

"Nidiri, use the new officers that I brought from the Artemis for immediate security on the Undine," Josh said. "Our officers should be used as a back-up team in case things go wrong, but don't put too much trust in any of them; we don't know if there are more infiltrators aboard. I'll be joining the captain on a rescue mission for the rest of the Artemis's crew. Be safe."

"Yes sir," Nidiri responded as she turned back towards the brig. She paused and turned to Lt. Vincent as he walked away, "You be safe too, Lieutenant. The Horizon isn't exactly a friendly place."

With that, Josh entered the turbolift and contacted Captain Gould.

"Sir, the prisoner is secure and I am prepared for the away mission," he stated.

*Acknowledge, we are short on time so stand by there for site to sight transport* came Goulds reply.

**Pirates Pride**

"Mr. Graalthrii, your station is now open, lock on to Vincent and bring him aboard" as he finished his own check list.

Moor seemed to waste little time with protocol and disengaged the locking clamps as soon as the main hatch was secured, even without an order. Gould decided to let it go, now so not the time to worry about such things.

"We are free of the Lotus captain, plotting a course to the Artemis" Moor said with a hint of excitement in his voice.

"Take us on a slow flyby of the port side, I want to take a look at something" Gould said as he moved to the Copilots position for a better look.

Moor nodded and the ship made a graceful arc and swept within 5 meters of the Lotus's port side, along the secondary hull. The deformation below to port nacelle was clearly viable, although there was nothing there he didn't expect. "I just wanted to see it for myself" and moved back to his own seat.

"Gould to Lotus" he said after working the comm panel.

*Sainthill here captain, go ahead*

"If were successfully we should be out of the Horizon within the next hour, if we don't contact you for one reason or another we will attempt to catch up with you in 6 hours at point echo"

*Understood captain, will should complete recovery of the Artemis crew in the next ten minuets, I will then return to our primary objective*

"Good luck to everyone, Gould out" and sat back in his chair.

After completing his flyby Moor angled the aeroshuttle and pulled away from the Lotus quickly, and flew though the small collection of two class X shuttles and two dozens of escape pods made out from torpedo casings, each containing a full life support system and one Artemis crew member.

Looking from a view port near his console, the Tellarite security officer was shaking his head and grumbling to himself.

"And I thought the captain had taken leave of his senses with this crazy order of his... But damn! It worked!"

At that moment lieutenant Vincent appeared on the 4 man transporter pod. "Welcome to the Pirates Pride Chief!" Moor said with a smile.

"Captain Gould," then said Graalthrii, his bearded face angled upward to look over his board, "I can send to Mister Moor our outbound trajectory back to the Artemis' last known position. From there and following the standard search pattern they would have implemented to seek out and destroy the trilithium emitters, we should be able to find them out quickly in all this inferno."

"An adequate idea Graalthrii, make it so" Gould continued to work his station, putting in the few last minuet adjustments for the shield calibrations for the Horizon effect. "Vincent, while we have a few minuets someone has requested to see you in the medical kiosk, an unusual request but I see no harm in it"

The kiosk was a the size of a walk in closet and consisted of medical equipment and storage as well as drop down med-beds, enough for as many as 4 people if needed.

As Vincent walked in he saw the EMH checking over his equipment. "Ah, Lt. Vincent.. thanks for coming." and he put his PADD down on a near by tray.

"I wish to apologize, it seems your were right after all" this wasn't easy for him to say. "My system was indeed compromised by a rather ingenious multi-layered encryption program that relied on my out dated ethical sub-routine" He looked vary uncomfortable. "In short, when ever Tomah placed the sentence 'would you please' using that particular dialect in front of an order I was completed to follow it to the letter. As my ethical sub routine was temporarily disabled, I wasn't even aware there was anything wrong with that."

"The captain took me off line and is in the process resetting my core program and was kind enough to allow me to transfer to the aeroshuttle to retain my personality matrix, although I'm not sure I wish to return to the Lotus, after the mistakes I made.. deletion might be wiser" His face remained casual, but it wasn't hard to see he was hurting.

"Doctor, there is no reason to apologize and certainly no reason to delete you," replied Josh. "You aren't responsible for the security of the ship and its crew, I am. Mr Tomah was clearly skilled at program manipulation, and he fooled me too. And it seems that Captain Gould knew the whole time, so there was no real danger. I am glad to have you along for this mission as I'm sure it will get... interesting."

"I appreciate your attempt at making me feel better Lieutenant, but you don't understand. It's not that Mr. Tomah managed to fool me, it's that I knew he might have and didn't except it. Try to understand that as a photonic life form I have many of the same problems as every other form of artificial life, in witch at some point we all become obsolete. "

"In order to upgrade my system it would be necessary to completely rewrite my operating system, and that would fundamentally change me into a new person, and the thought of that.. freighted me, I guess" he pretended to look over his equipment as he spoke. "It's funny, I remember when I wanted nothing more than to be different from every other mark 1 hologram, and now, as far as I know, I'm the last one still in service" He looked at Vincent with a depressed expression.

"Tomah exploited a weakness in my system that Star fleet already knew about, but because of the artificial intelligence movement, they let me remain without the newer security protocols, and it ended up endangering the entire ship" Then he had a serious look.

"It also occurs to me that star fleet knew about Tomah, and that he was influencing me in some way, and chose to do nothing about it except watch. I understand their reasoning and except it, but.. they still allowed him to.. violate me, after a fashion" and turned away to check a panel readout. "That's been hard for me to adjust to"

Just then Gould's voice came over the intercom *Mr. Vincent, your needed back on the bridge. Were approaching the cloud*

The EMH turned to look at him and smiled reassuringly "Good luck out there Lieutenant"

"Thank you Doctor," Josh said as he headed for the door. "We'll talk more about this later."

Josh walked into the bridge and went to the tactical station.

"All ready, sir," he reported. "What's the plan?"

"The effect of the subspace fractures as well as of the plasma cloud makes the transporter all but useless; we'll have to manually dock the aeroshuttle as close as we can to the auxiliary bridge and work our way to it." Gould looked over his men. "Moor will remain onboard in the event the ship must be moved during the recovery effort, the rest will follow Graalthrii in an attempt to reach the auxiliary bridge in order to extract its remaining crew, as well as retrieve any sensor data they may have gathered from this last attempt"

"With any luck the crew will still be alive and able to assist us in these matters, but I don't hold much hope for both" Vincent broke in. "Found the Artemis, Captain; bringing it up on tactical."

The image displayed seemed warped, sections had obviously lost containment and the hull was eaten through.

Gould looked at it then turned to Graathrii.

"Any chance their still alive in there?"

"Normally I would say nearly none, Captain," the Tellarite growled. "But Vulcan's and Andorian are just both too stubborn to die like everyone else. Especially those three..."

He looked with squinting eyes at his sensor display.

"There are hull breaches on most decks, high levels of radiation and plasma heat everywhere, emergency power waning, no life support or artificial gravity except some remnant of both in the auxiliary bridge... These upgraded sensors of yours are really good to filter out even that little of the anomaly's interference..."

Suddenly, he slapped his board as his shriveled face almost split apart in a huge toothy grin.

"Got them! Faint life signs, two of them... maybe three...Deck 5 section A... the auxiliary bridge alright!"

He brought up a schematic display of the saucer section of the Artemis and sent it to the pilot's console monitor.

"Safest and shortest entry would be through shuttle bay 1 aft of deck 6. It was left open when we evacuated. Then, we can use Jefferies tubes to get down to deck 5 and..."

A snort of frustration suddenly came from the Tellarite as he looked closer to his slightly distorted readouts.

"Delete that... they must have collided with some of those neutronium masses floating in the plasma eddies; the shuttlebay access has collapsed. We'll have to get through one of the deck 5 airlocks on the outer rim... and walk over one hundred meters of damaged corridors all the way to the center of the saucer."

Graalthrii then faced the commanding officer of the Lotus fleet flagship.

"Full envirosuits with magnetic boots will be needed, Sir; for the rescue team and the three survivors... if they are still alive when we will get to them. Unless you wish for a plasma suntan; the ship is almost fully exposed to the anomaly, inside and out. And quickly, Captain Sir. What's left of the Artemis is teetering on the edge of several subspace fractures. Sooner than later, one will swallow her, or two or more will tear her apart trying to... unless a plasma ejection finds its way through one or several of them first and burns her to a crisp."

"And here I was ready to complain I was getting left behind!" Moor said with a mile. "Well, never fear on docking in any event. This ship was designed to lock onto any kind of port imaginable, you never know what you might run into during a diplomatic mission" and maneuvered the aeroshuttle around to one of the airlocks.

Gould got up and moved back to the staging area "Suit up people, standard sidearms only. It's extremely unlikely we'll encounter resistance, but it's best to be ready."

"More likely we'll need them to cut through some debris and jammed doors," reminded the small, rotund security officer of the Artemis.

The group put on their suites and checked each other gear before gathering around the upper airlock. The sound of the Pirates Pride contacting and locking onto the Artemis could be clearly heard. "Extending the boarding plank" Moor said smoothly "As the air lock cycled and opened.

Graalthrii looked skyward.

"Great... another bathtub pirate..."

They all looked at him quizzically. No one aboard that craft could figure out that he was referring to his endangered commanding officer, fond of using antique Earth navy terms in a most atypical manner for an Andorian, a species well known for it's deep aversion to deep waters.

Gould flashed a look in his pilot's direction but just shook his head and headed into the dock, following just behind Graathrii. "I hope you weren't exaggerating your knowledge of your ship, because your in the lead."

"As if you have any choice... Sir," shot back the Tellarite between his teeth. Louder he then added; "This is the typical saucer section of a Federation starship, Captain Gould. All airlock corridors extend radially from the center part where the most sensitive section, mainly the control center, is located. It will become complicated only if the direct route is blocked and we have to divert ourselves through side corridors or Jefferies tubes."

He flashed him a wide grin over a proudly lifted chin.

"Simple and efficient, I know. The original Terrain basic design had been much improved once Tellarite engineers joined Starfleet."

He made a first step towards the airlock then stopped with a small sigh of restrained impatience. This was not his ship, his crew and his responsibility. Taking point to ensure safety for all before they entered any dangerous area was the responsibility of the chief of security.

And here, the security lead was thus in the hands of young Lieutenant Josh Vincent.

Josh nodded to Mr. Graathrii and took the lead into the airlock; the other officers then followed him closely and sealed the door behind them. Before opening the door onto the damaged ship, Lt. Vincent pulled out his tricorder and scanned the area for any new readings.

"The only life signs I'm picking up are on the auxiliary bridge," he said as he put his tricorder back on his belt. "The structural integrity seems to be holding along our path. We're clear to proceed."

Josh opened the hatch, stepped into the abandoned corridor and activated his magnetic boots. He quickly clung to the floor and moved away from the door, visually checking the area for any unseen dangers.

"Captain, please stay behind me in case any fires or other damage pops up. We've already had too many close calls today," Josh said.

"That's Starfleet for you," growled Graalthrii as he stepped beside the taller Human and stepped into the darkened interior of the doomed Artemis, pointing to them the way forward.

Their suits protected them completely from the intense blast of heat that made their environmental indicators jump wildly up. Their magnetic boots kept them from being blown off their feet and into the twisted bulkheads by the complete lack of air and gravity that welcomed them. As the beams of light from their headlamps made weird shapes of plasma fumes and automated extinguisher jets, they felt the soundless crushing of broken wall console parts under their thick-soled feet with each step they took inside the bowels of the dying starship. from time to time, a rumble and a tremor shook them, even slowly tilting the huge vessel slightly this side and that, giving them all the ominous feeling of being on the deck an ancient derelict sailship abandoned at sea.

The chief of security's caution paid off when a new vibration, deeper and longer than the others, forced them to brace themselves against the wall even with the stability given by their magnetic boots. A wall brace twisted out of it's socket and eerily fell without a sound across their path, smashing a wall console that erupted into a shower of debris,sparks and flames.

No one was hurt and they managed to step over and around the debris to resume their prudent progression. But it brought more than awakened wariness to the minds of the three Starfleet officers; would there truly be anyone still left alive in there?

They would soon know. Before them loomed a closed door beside which a wall panel said: Auxiliary Control Room.

Gould moved up and looked the door over "Graathrii, start the manual bypass on the door, Vincent and I will set the field emitters" The door of course was secured for both security reasons as well as environmental ones, it would not open under such conditions without a command bypass. Phasering through it would take too long and it lacked power to open even if they could convince it to do so. They would literally have to to cut off the security locks and hand crank it open, a process that would take about 5 minuets to complete and would leave a gap just large enough to get through. It would be enough.

Gould and Vincent removed four two foot long emitters from their carry packs and clamped two on either side of the door, then switched them on. The doorway was covered with a shimmering blue environmental shield, if it worked properly, it would keep the auxiliary control room at its current level of atmosphere for as long as an hour.

"E-seal in place captain, system is secure" Vincent said after double checking each one.

Graathrii grunted as the last lock fell open and started turning the crank manually, but after a few seconds Gould replaced him. "No offense, but were in a hurry" and applied his greater strength to the task. as the door way opened enough to allow access he nodded for them to go in while he opened the door way just a bit more. "Go!, I'm right behind you"

Because it was his ship and because he was more worried about his captain and shipmates than he would have ever cared to admit openly, the Tellarite security officer of the Artemis didn't think twice and went in first through the low-intensity forcefield. With agrunt, he squeezed his ample girth between the two partly open panels and went inside.

At once, he saw within the eerily silent emergency bridge the tall bearded Vulcan seated at the fowardmost console, sitting straight with his head bowed and his eyes closed on his serene feature as if he was simply taking a nap on the job. The heat and radiation permeating the room from the anomaly outside made the skin-close electromagnetic aura of his PID shimmer dully and intermittently around him.

Then he spotted the two forms, also slightly shimmering under their own failing PIDs' emergency life support field, sprawled over the double station behind him; the awfully tall Andorian giantess shoulders and head were draped over the forward part of it, her long snowy hair falling in front of her face, while her left hand held the right one of the athletically built Andorian captain of the Artemis, his dark-hued, sweat-covered face flat on the helm controls.

Despite his earlier recommendation, Graalthrii had not brought spare suits for the survivors; almost right as he had said it, he had remembered the abnormal size of his own department chief. Tyvya would never have fitted into any standard one, so instead, he had grabbed battery packs from the reserve locker in the aeroshuttle. He could see that he had rightfully estimated that the PIDs' own power reserve would have been near depletion if not completely drained by the anomaly's effect by the time they would reach them. He went immediately to all three inert bodies, ejecting their dying power cells from their belt socket and slapping the new ones in place.

At least, they could now be kept alive and moved back to their waiting rescue craft even through outer space, as long as it did not take too long... And that, if they were still alive.

Syntron's breath was steady but so slow it was almost imperceptible. Tyvya's own breathing was dangerously shallow.

As for Kheren, it looked like he was not breathing at all.

Gould worked his way into the room with the rest "Can those two be moved safely?"

"They'll die if we don't!" shot back angrily the Tellarite as he lifted his comatose captain in a fireman's carry. He was simply too small to even try with the well over two meters tall Andorian woman.

"Put.. Him.. down, now" Goulds normally calm voice gave way to a fierceness not usually heard. "IF I can revive Syntron, you and Vincent will carry him together, or would you rather the trip back kill him?" he didn't have the time or the inclination to explain to the Tellarite that the shock of being bounced around the corridors would be just as deadly to the over heated Andorians as a phaser hit.

"Ill see if I can revive him" and made his way over to the Vulcan. "No obvious injuries, he's in a healing trance.." he said as he checked Syntron's eyes. "I'm going to attempt to wake him" and placed his hand on Syntron's face.

Gould wasn't as confident as he sounded, he'd only briefly studied telepathy on Vulcan and, to be honest, it was an attempt to impress another student, a young girl. It ended badly with an embarrassing memory from childhood that made even the normally stoic Vulcan girl laugh out loud.

He pushed it aside, that was more than 40 years ago and this was no time to dwell on such trivial matters. "My mind to your mind.." he intoned. He only needed to wake him up, to let him know it was time to leave, a simple brushing of minds. Although from Syntron's point of view, it would feel more like getting jabbed with a sharp stick.

…climbing a path upward… could it be Mount Seleya? intense heat… minimal oxygen… darkness enveloping… occasional flashes of light streaking by… climbing…reaching… yet getting nowhere… darkness becoming dominant… breathing more difficult… heat intensifying… can’t find the alter… what am I searching for? a presence approaching from the darkness… sounds blurred… then a jolting pressure in my mind… thoughts forming into words… words into fragmented meaning… but there is a barrier… impenetrable… a labyrinth… sounds echoing all around… deep recesses of a dream-like state… spinning… lost… losing footing and equilibrium…

In his mind, Gould could see the Vulcan trying to find his way back and reached out to the flailing man.

A hand shot out from the mist... reaching for his own... a voice... unfamiliar.. called out from the vast emptiness.. "take the hand that is offered, and together we shall find our way.." The hand gripped his own.. it pulled gently for him to follow...

...distant thoughts spinning and encircling… hull breaches... emergency force-fields not responding… impulse power drained… spiraling downward… and then a phantom hand grasping from nowhere… pulling… words echoing… “together we shall find our way”… who? find our where to where?

Then the hand pulled him up to a higher level of consciousness but a barrier still existed… separating them. Cannot break through this barrier…

A long tremor suddenly shook the entire deck and the whole ship seemed to tilt all the more towards the subspace fracture that loomed on the static-filled viewing screen near Gould and the still unconscious Syntron.

"Time's running out, Captain Gould!" bellowed Graalthrii through their comlink, already puffing under the unexpectedly high bodyweight of his inert commanding officer. "You will have to carry him, Sir... Maybe a good smack could wake him up? Or how about a kiss?"

"Not.. yet.." He managed to respond. It seemed he just wasn't good enough to pull Syntron back to the surface of conscious, only then could he..

Suddenly Syntron inhaled deeply, violently, as if he might be struggling the breath. Gould stepped back slightly, moving his hand down to the Vulcans shoulder, steadying him. After waiting a second longer he brought his other hand back and savagely struck the man with an open palm. The blow was so fierce that it would have knocked him out of his seat if Gould hadn't held him down.

Two more blows followed in rapid secession, each as powerful as the last.

Suddenly, a force crashed through the barrier… and jolted the unconscious Vulcan again… gripping him until hot air rushed into his lungs. His eyes sealed shut gradually found the capacity to begin to open. He then glimpsed a hand moving swiftly to slap his face and instinctively reached up and caught it before it struck him again. As he began to regain control over his remaining faculties, he held tightly onto the arm that he had caught as he cleared his throat. Looking at the diffused figure standing before him he responded with a gravelly voice.

“That will be quite sufficient.”

Then gazing around, Syntron was indeed surprised to even be alive… unless this was yet another part of this dream-state he was caught in. This was all rather unclear. Still somewhat incoherent, he hazily inquired to the figure “What is our status?”

"Critical!" puffed out Graathrii as he was about to slip his ample girth sideways through the parted door of the emergency bridge, Kheren's body over his thick shoulders. "No time to discuss this with a committee... Sir!"

As if to confirm those words, there was a new, deeper tremor and, somewhere in the bowels of the condemned starship, a low, ominous groan was heard in the overheated, rarefied atmosphere of the dimly lit room as it tilted even more sharply than before.

Knowing the the Vulcan would not appreciate politeness at this moment, Gould just nodded his acknowledgement, then immediately moved over to the science station.

"Vincent, you and Graathrii take Captain Kheren carefully back to the shuttle, Syntron and I shall follow shortly with Tyvya as soon as we can secure the Artemis logs" Then glanced back at Syntron "Are you functional enough to be of assistance in this endeavor? we need any mission logs on your current project as well the captains log." Even as Gould spoke he was accessing the ships logs, but logically assumed Syntron would be more suited to the job.

Syntron stood up rather unsteadily at first but soon regained his composure as he dusted himself off.

“I will gather all of the recent logs and data” Syntron stated as he reached down on the floor and grasped his PADD that had been knocked over banged around a bit. He activated the device and determined that despite its scratched up appearance, it was still functional. He walked over and began transferring the remaining data and information to the comprehensive data already stored within its contents.

He then looked over and stated “Begin to prepare Tyvya for our departure.”

Syntron finished gathering the remaining data and immediately clipped the PADD to his side. He then walked over to the tall Andorian giantess and with a nodded signal he and Gould carefully began lifting the tall, bulky and unconscious chief tactical and security officer from her post. They managed to clear her of the console and worked out a method to move her steadily through the corridors and over the fallen debris throughout their pathway. It was an exhausting endeavor as Syntron wore no magnetic boots to anchor him to the deckplates outside of the emergency bridge. he had to find purchase as best he could, even on the bulkheads as his free-floating body moved this way and that with each of their movements. Vulcan as he might be, he perspired and breathed heavily maneuvering thus through the dangerous environment as the minimal life-support of his PID strained against the one hundred meters of heated vacuum the had to go through. Eventually, they made their way to the aeroshuttle and they gingerly positioned Tyvya down into it's limited aft bay where the EMH was frantically hovering over the comatose form of Captain Kheren.

Syntron then looked up at Gould and stated “I have one more errand to complete which will take me approximately 3.45 minutes.”

Without waiting for a reply the Vulcan first officer was back out into the corridor and traversing among the rubble. He found his way to a blocked Jeffries tube and swiftly removed the rubble. After opening the hatch, he pulled out a light and lit the tube upward. There was clear passage. He strapped on an additional oxygen mask and activated the gases as he climbed up three deck levels and forced the door open. There was not much remaining of deck 2 and the visibility was limited. Using the light to lead the way, he maneuvered his way into his quarters. Checking the time this took 1.79 minutes.

He searched among the fallen and damaged debris until he found the two buried cases. He swiftly cleared the rubble off of them and strapped them both to his back. He headed back to the Jeffries tube and descended swiftly back to deck 5. Exiting the hatchway he ran on all four along the bulkheads and even the ceiling and dodged his way back into the shuttle as he deposited the cases onto the floor and stated “Ready to launch.”

Graalthrii looked up from his station with a wide-eyed stare. The trembling of the dying starship Artemis was shaking them as well.

"You wish!" he exclaimed before turning towards Captain Gould. "The Artemis is being torn apart and twisted out of shape by the nearby subspace fractures; the locking port has been deformed by the hull stresses so much, we can't disengage the locking clamps!"

The agonizing groan of the Artemis reverberated throughout their own craft and, through the cockpit canopy, they stared at the tilting view of the raging fires of the anomaly, framing a space-time deformation gaping at them like an opening maw with jagged teeth of raw, brutal energy, closing in to swallow them all.

With little time to spare, Josh's mind went straight to a desperate plan.

"Sir, we can use our phasers to cut through the docking clamps," Lt. Vincent said. "We've got our environmental suits, so we can easily survive the time that it would take to close the hatch after cutting free. We'll just need to hold on to avoid being sucked out by decompression."

"That's "blown out," the Tellarite shot back with a shake of his head. "Mammalians..."

"Agreed" said th captain of the Lotus to the both of them and pulled off his phaser.

Without another word, both men moved into the airlock.

"The shuttle's uni-docking port will work again us. We'll have to cut the control lines aboard the Artemis to release the outer clamps or we wont be able to re-secure the outer air lock."

Once back inside the Artemis, Gould and Vincent removed the maintenance panels around the docking clamp control systems.

"These lines here!" he pointed them out. "Sever these 3 lines and it will release the receiving clamps into neutral pressure. Then we can manually disengage them from the air lock."

As Vincent went about phasering the connections, Gould did the same on the other end of the hatchway. As each connection gave way, a grating, groaning sound could be heard as the clamps lost pressure.

Just as they each were about halfway through, the ship again shook violently. The room started to bend in around them and the resulting pressure caused the remaining clamps to give way, causing the uni-dock to fold in like an accordeon. Gould and Vincent where tossed about the room but Vincent managed to get a foot back on the ground and steadied both himself and the captain before starting to make a try back to the shuttle; but Gould stopped him.

"Too late! Inside!" and pushed him out of the room.

"Moor! break free! Do it now!" he yelled over the com.

The shuttle engines flared and the Pirate's Pride grinded against the air lock for a second more before ripping free. Pieces' of the uni-dock could be seen spinning away into space.

"Damn it!" Moor yelled, "Graathrii, we need another place to set down!"

Grim faced, Graathrii snarled:

"What good would that do? the docking port is scrap.."

Moor looked at his controls desperately.

"Well, we have to do something! Your an engineer and he's a Vulcan! one of you come up with a smart idea!"

"All Tellarites are not engineers!" roared Graalthrii. "I'm a security officer and I'm not cross-trained as a technician! Why do you think I am not with the other cross-trained crewmembers on the bridge module instead of here, in your glorified shuttlepod?"

Back on board the Artemis, Gould and Vincent had abandoned there mag boots and started pulling themselves down the hallway, half floating, half bouncing. The ship seemed intent on killing them as the hallway continued to collapse around them, following them up the hallway as it went.

"The whole section must be collapsing!" Gould managed to get out. "Head back to auxiliary control!"

Twice they were nearly cut off before they sailed into the room. The room groaned and several panels popped out but the reinforced room held under the pressure.

Breathing heavily Vincent exclaimed: "That was fun." He didn't sound like he meant it. "Do you think the shuttle got out?"

Gould sat down at the engineering station, he too sounded winded. "I think so, but it's out of our hands now."

Vincent looked around the dead, quiet control room and let out a sigh. Neither man said much. There was no way out and they both knew it.

As Gould wondered what he could say to his chief of security, he looked over the engineering station out of habit.

At least I'll go out manning something I love he thought.

Then, he noticed the impulse engines critical system alarm. The only thing holding them in place was on the verge of failure.

"Or maybe we can go out being useful one last time," he said outloud.

"Sir?" Vincent said as he joined his captain.

"I'm going to overload the impulse engines past critical and disengage the shutdown override." he said as he worked the controls. "The first part is easy; it's barely holding together as it is."

Waning klaxons blared to life as the shutdown failsafe was overridden. The computer agreed.

"This procedure is not recommended."

Gould paid it no mind.

"If this works, it will cause a temporary destabilization in those local subspace fields intersecting so close to us and each other within normal space. That should give the shuttle enough time to break free..." he said, looking at Vincent. "It's the best we can hope for."

He said this apologetically. The computer then gave out it's last warning.

"System will reach critical in one minute, 43 seconds."

Gould just sighed.

"No way back now; it can't be stopped."

**Pirates Pride**

"There's nothing left to do, boy! We're out of options!" The annoyed Tellarite growled at Moor.

"I wont accept that! I'm not abandoning my captain and Vincent!"

Moor continued piloting the shuttle around the Artemis, looking for any sigh of... well, anything.

"Look, Human; even if they survived, which is unlikely to say the least, we can't dock! And the transporter is useless! We'd have to be inside the Artemis to use it. We are out of options!"

The small porcine-looking officer crossed his arms impatiently. over his barreled chest.

"Oh, now that you have your people back, you've lost your nerve? well I.."

Then, the Lotus' helmsman's face went blank.

"Inside..." he mumbled.

Then, he gritted his teeth and hit the collision alarm.

Acting instinctively, Graathrii set himself into the copilot seat.

"What are you doing?"

He watched as Moor brought up the weapons system and armed the forward torpedoes.

"Taking your sound expert advice, engineer," retoted Moor and then he snalred; "Computer! batten down the hatches!"

The computer responded with an odd sounding male voice

"Aye, Captain Moor."

The Tellarite's own bellowing voice sounded even worse.

"I am not an engineer!"

Outside the Pirate's Pride, the aeroshuttle's ablative armor grew into place, coating the craft in the same nanite armor the Lotus had.

The Pirate's Pride then swung around and faced the main cargobay's distorted door and Moor fired the micro torpedoes even as he opened up the impulse engines. The torpedoes struck, ripping through the warped, unprotected door. The hole that resorted was impressive... but not impressive enough.

"We can't fit through that!" Graathrii shouted, bracing himself as the shuttle raced at opening.

Moor whispered "Sometimes.. you just have to punch your way through it," quoting Janeway.

The ship slammed into the cargo bay door, going about halfway through, jamming into place.

With deflector screens and inertial dampeners at full intensity, the jarring within the heavily armored ship was minimal. No systems where damaged.

"See if you can raise them. I'll get us free."

With that, Moor disengaged the ablative armor. The voided space alone left by it's instant removal was just enough to free them. The entire craft floated mere centimeters from the torn-out bulkheads.

Fortunately for them, the transporter node was in the nose of the shuttle,.If they could get a lock on the away team, they would be able to get them out.

Graalthrii literally rolled out of the copilot seat to stand behind Moor at the station he had previously occupied. He frantically ran his thick fingers over the controls, grumbled between his clenched teeth, punched the console with a snarl then jabbed a stout finger hard on the panel before he finally slapped the hard palm of his hand on the edge of the board.

"Ha! Got them!"

And then, a red light flickered under his short, wide, flat nose and his squinty eyes blinked twice before he growled some expletive in his own native tongue.

"And I got an impulse engine overload in progress! The Artemis is about to blow!"

 

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